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Hua Hu Ching: The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu

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HUA HU CHING : The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu. By Brian Walker. 108 pp. San Francisco : Harper, 1995. ISBN 0060692456 (pbk.)

Anyone who has read Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu will find much that is familiar in this book. They will also find much that is strikingly new and different, so much so that one doubts very much that this book could have been written by Lao Tzu (always supposing that such a person actually existed). The book seems fairly obviously to be the work of much later thinkers, which isn't to say we should dismiss it because of that.

Although certain of its ideas are, in terms of philosophic Taoism, perfectly orthodox, others are highly unorthodox, but ALL are beautifully expressed. Brian Walker has a wonderfully lucid style, and despite the unorthodoxy of certain passages, it seems to me that a book like this can only do good.

It brings to the West a wisdom that many more people would benefit from being exposed to, and for a certain kind of reader it might prove more approachable than even Stephen Mitchell's marvelous reworking and adaptation of the 'Tao Te Ching.'

Although I can understand the objections of the purists, I don't seen any harm being done, particularly if newcomers were to follow it up with a reading of either, or preferably both, the 'Tao Te Ching' and Chuang Tzu.

Chapter 10 immediately caught my attention. Here is the opening with my obliques to indicate line breaks:

"The ego is a monkey catapulting through the jungle : / Totally fascinated by the realm of the senses, / it swings from one desire to the next, / one conflict to the next. / If you threaten it, it actually fears for its life. // Let this monkey go..." (p.13).

It would be difficult to argue against the orthodoxy of this wonderful poem, a poem that describes the human dilemma so well, since Hakuin (1686-1769), one of Japan's greatest Zen Masters, actually painted a picture of such a scene and inscribed the following poem on it:

"The monkey is reaching for the moon in the water / Until death overtakes him he'll never give up. / If he'd let go the branch and disappear in the deep pool / The whole world would shine in dazzling pureness" (Sasaki, 'The Zen Koan,' page 132).

Clearly both of these writers were in total agreement about the nature of the human dilemma, and it would not be too difficult to find many other parallels.

I think Walker has given us a wonderful book, and I doubt very much that its residue of unorthodoxy will bother those readers for whom the book is intended. In fact it seems to me that its brilliant development of certain perfectly orthodox ideas more than makes up for whatever elements of religious Taoism it may contain.

I was really excited when I found this book in late 1999, since I loved the Tao Te Ching and Lao-Tzu's simple, beautiful, timeless wisdom. Finding this slim volume of his allegedly long-suppressed additional sayings was like the icing on the cake for me in my love of Taoist philosophy. And the first chapters are really nice, with the types of sentiments you expect from the master, like "To embrace all things means first that one holds no anger or resistance toward any idea or thing, living or dead, formed or formless," "If your willingness to give blessings is limited, so also is your ability to receive them," and (my fave) "The ego is a monkey catapulting through the jungle." As another reviewer pointed out but which I didn't realise at the time, it sure sounds like Lao-Tzu, but it's a bit wordier than most of what he expressed in the Tao Te Ching. Still, it sounds like his voice regardless of how wordy it is. Later on it really gets into things like medicine, the names of ancient masters, angelic intercourse, science, the kinds of stuff that didn't appear at all in the Tao Te Ching. It just wasn't as poetic, though I found the insights into ancient Chinese philosophy and science fascinating. I also don't like how the text is arranged in this edition. My edition of the Tao Te Ching is the only Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English one, where it's arranged like a beautiful freeverse poem. In the Walker edition of the Hua Hu Ching, every line of text is arranged like a line in a book. It doesn't seem nearly as poetic; would it have hurt to break some of the lines up mid-sentence like Feng and English did?

Finding out this book is in all likelihood a forgery which was originally designed to create bad blood between both Buddhists and Taoists actually explains a lot. I probably still would have bought it if I had known, but I wouldn't have been as likely to. Whoever wrote it, there are some great, beautiful, lovely, poetic insights, but I'll always turn to the Tao Te Ching first when I want some Taoist inspiration.

I starting reading this when I got home, and something seemed off. Turns out that they laugh about this book on Taoist discussion boards. Hua Hu Ching was a forgery in the 8th century CE. The intent was to convert western Chinese Buddhists to Taoism by presenting Lao Tzu as teaching Buddhist thought in China before Buddha's Enlightenment. The earlier chapters have a rather Buddhist feel, which turns into a "Religious Taoist" feel in the later chapters with discussions on magic, Feng Shui, "angelic" sex, and the need to worship the 64 I Ching hexagrams!

It was responsible for some tremendous bad blood between Buddhists and Taoists, and was eventually ordered destroyed by an emperor in the 14th century. Apparently, at least a handful of Taoists believe in it and have kept it alive via oral tradition, and so, Walker, touted as a "Taoist scholar," translates it, apparently unaware of its dubious history, relying solely on Ni Hua-Ching's version of it.

The first several chapters are beautiful, insightful, and poetic, though a bit wordy for Lao Tzu. for instance, "Division is contrary to the nature of the Tao. / Foregoing antagonism and separation, one enters into the harmonious oneness of all things." (3)

However, after Chapter 50, things go rapidly downhill, I mean falling-off-a-cliff downhill, with bizarre New-Age flavored droppings such as "Because yin and yang are not complete within us as individuals, we pair up to integrate them and bring forth new life./ Although most people spend their entire lives following this biological impulse, it is only a tiny portion of our beings as well. / If we remain obsessed with seeds and eggs, we are married to the fertile reproductive valley of the Mysterious Mother but not to her immeasurable heart and all-knowing mind." (65) Sounds just like Lao Tzu, right?

Or how about this? "In ancient times, various holistic sciences were developed by hightly evolved beings to enable their own evolution and that of others...The student who ignores them hinders the development of all beings." (54)

I wish I had researched this one before I bought it. I'd like to have my money back! Interested in wisdom from Taoism? Read the Tao Te Ching, and Chuang Tzu. Interested in Buddhist scripture? Read the Dhammapada, The Way of the Bodhisattva, and other sutras. Avoid this junk, which was banned for its dishonesty.

Very few "western" philosophers can truly do justice to the teachings of Lao-Tzu. Because of the problems of translating ancient Chinese to current English and the inability for most people to understand the basic concepts Lao-Tzu was attempting to get across, it is most difficult to give the works of the old master the translations they deserve. Walker, however, does a masterful job in this respect, as he did in The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu. I firmly recomend both books for individuals both beginning to delve into Taoism and seasoned in the philosopy. This translation is definitely the best to date

I was lent a copy of this text to seek out texts for me to set as part of a commission (I'm a composer). I came up with something and then started reading the text very closely for how the text was credited, so I could cite it properly, and I realized that Brian Browne Walker does not actually say whether he translated this text or invented it; in fact the process he describes within is that he somehow absorbed this from a Taoist master he knows. The reality is that the actual historical text has nothing to do with this text--compare any other translation. I wish he would explain exactly what he DID do in creating this text, which he could address on his blog. Some of the aspects of this text (references to sexual relationships between spiritual teachers and students) are merely weird if they were in some way traditional, but creepier if Walker actually wrote it.

Although, maybe not the original words of Lao-Tzu, they surely do ring clear to more understanding of the Tao. The tao is something that is not easy to become one with, but this book does a wonderful job helping those who are searching come closer to the Tao. Highly recommended to anyone who liked Tao Te Ching.

This is the first book on hua hu ching that i have ever read. i also bought master Ni's work under the same book title, but to be honest, i prefer walker's book to the latter, since it's less confusing. This book has given me so much thought and understanding. Walker has really done a wonderful job and thank you a zillion times walker.

Every page has age-old wisdom written in a fresh and accessible style. If you're ever feeling down, read any page of this book to help remind you what life is actually about, and how to find happiness - right now!

Great to discover this work. Nice additional source of wisdom from the Sages, in Brian Browne Walker's typically crisp embracing translation style. Like other Kindle books, great to be able to carry them with me on my smart phone.

I had seen Brian Walker's "Hua Hu Ching" in a local book store and picked up a copy. I loved it so much that I went to Amazon and ordered a copy for my wife.

The book is fantastic, and essential for anyone who has read any translation of Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching".

And as always Amazon provided top notch service, from placing the order to receiving the shipment. Thanks, Amazon.